Although its headquarters are in Switzerland, commodity trader Glencore is listed in the UK so would not be subject to the new rules. Still, Glasenberg said on Tuesday: "The Swiss would love me because I don't take a bonus and am one of the lowest paid CEOs in the FTSE 100. I am a large shareholder; I do get dividends. It is not necessary for me to take a bonus."

Glasenberg took home $1.5m in pay and benefits in 2011, but $109m in dividends, catapulting him into the ranks of the highest paid executives around the world. This year, his salary is expected to be more or less the same but his shareholder payout will grow, after the company approved a 5% increase in the full-year dividend despite a 75% plunge in net profits.

Glencore and mining group Xstrata both announced lower profits on Tuesday, as they cleared the decks with a raft of writedowns ahead of their long-awaited deal to create a £50bn mining and commodities giant.

Completion of that deal has been delayed yet again, as Glencore wrangles with the Chinese authorities for regulatory approval. Glasenberg said: "We are working with [the Chinese] to try to find a resolution. It has been a bit delayed because of the changes taking place in the government at the moment." But he said the company should complete the takeover before the new deadline of 16 April.

Glasenberg remained tight-lipped about the strategy for the combined group, saying only that "plans are well advanced" and he would give a "comprehensive market update" after completion.

Overall, Glencore's net profits attributable to shareholders dropped to $1bn in 2012, dragged down by a $1.2bn impairment charge on its 9% stake in the world's largest aluminium producer, Rusal. Glencore said the charge was due to a technical accounting rule and had not changed the asset value of the stake.

Ignoring one-off items, profits at the commodity trader fell 25%. Glasenberg put that down to lower commodity prices and said Glencore had performed better than its peers. Revenues rose by 15% to $214bn, lifted by the company's energy business.

Meanwhile Xstrata's net profits attributable to shareholders dropped 90% to $1.2bn. That was in part down to an $840m impairment charge Xstrata took on the value of its near-25% stake in platinum producer Lonmin, which suffered output losses due to worker unrest that last August resulted in 34 striking miners being shot dead by police in South Africa's deadliest security incident since the end of apartheid in 1994. Thousands of miners remained on strike on Tuesday at two shafts in the Marikana platinum mine that was the site of the shootings, Lonmin said.